Elliana Hernandez 🥉

Cables are the number one robot trap, so start by telling your bot to avoid the worst zones. If your vacuum has mapping no go zones, draw keep out boxes around the TV console, router corner, and floor lamps where slack gathers. Do one mapping only pass with the lights on to build a clean map, save it, and always start the robot from the dock in the same spot so it stays aligned. Add a little extra buffer around those boxes since maps can drift a bit. Tame the cords you cannot relocate. Coil extra length with velcro ties and run cables up along the back of furniture or the baseboard with adhesive clips. For any cord that must cross the floor, use a low profile cover and, if your robot loves to climb ramps, place the cover where you can easily remove it on cleaning days or lift that cord temporarily. A small hack that helps with skinny chargers is a short strip of painter's tape as a bumper skirt so the vacuum glides over instead of biting down, just avoid blocking sensors. If your model supports magnetic boundaries, a simple fix is Purzest Magnetic Boundary Strip laid in front of cable clusters or around a power strip. It is 13 feet long and you can cut it to size, so you can trace it along the edge of your TV stand and keep the robot out without redoing your map.